A Rational Faith Founded on Fact

By Dr. Tom Snyder, Editor

I remember seeing a Woody Allen movie where his character tries to seek answers for his depression in religion. After rejecting Judaism, Christianity, and New Age theology, he finds his answer in the iconoclastic comedy of the Marx Bros.

Of course, it was after this overt rejection of Christianity that the world discovered that Woody was leaving Mia Farrow for his underage adopted daughter. Woody had flirted with pederasty and pedophilia before, most notably in his movie MANHATTAN, but eventually, Woody’s Anti-Christian bigotry and his rejection of Jesus Christ led to pedophilia in real life.

There is an unrequited darkness and bitterness in the soul of those who hate religion and faith. Only Jesus Christ can overcome this darkness and bitterness.

Recently, two journalists, Christopher Hitchens and Sam Harris, have appeared on TV and radio talk shows speaking bitterly and falsely against people of faith, especially Christians. They think people who have faith in God and Jesus are irrational and stupid.

In reality, however, it is the atheist who must be irrational in order to believe the fantastic idea that all human science and art come from non-rational processes that are purely, and only, physical. As the leading atheist Antony Flew has discovered, such belief is not rational or scientific.

Unlike all other religions, Christian theology is based on logic and on historical fact. No one has successfully refuted the historical reliability of the New Testament documents, which contain journalistic investigations and historical eyewitness testimonies about the life, death and physical resurrection of Jesus Christ. Only a rational, logical person can truly understand these texts, their historical context, their meaning, and their story.

That said, even a person who’s mentally disabled must use the basic laws of logic to understand the simple truths of the Christian faith and be saved.

Whenever Christians rationally study these texts, or hear the Gospel message, God illuminates their minds with the power of the Holy Spirit. That power is a rational power, which helps them apply the logic and reason of their own spirits or minds (mind is just another word for spirit in this article) to understand the Christian faith and the New Testament documents that teach that faith. Such power is foolish to the atheist, because, ultimately, the atheist himself doesn’t really understand the power of mankind’s God-given logic and reason.

God is the ultimate source of all logic and reason. He uses our minds to make us whole, through the power of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. That Gospel is empirically revealed and taught through the journalistic investigations and historical eyewitness testimonies in the New Testament about the life, death, and physical resurrection of Jesus Christ. These empirical investigations and testimonies are composed of logical, rational truth.

Thus, having trusting faith and confidence in God and Jesus Christ is not irrational. In fact, it is one of the most rational things you can do. It is a rational faith founded on fact!

Regrettably, however, many Christian churches and denominations have drifted away from this rational faith. Consequently, the children they are teaching often drift away even further into apathy, anger, atheism, bitterness, Anti-Christian bigotry, sinfulness, and other evil attitudes.

The heresy and anti-intellectualism in these churches and denominations also affects those who have never entered their halls. Already ignorant, such unchurched people compound their ignorance by preaching publicly against religion in general and Christianity in particular.

Forgive them, Father, for they don’t know what they’re doing!

With God’s help, we can restore a rational, orthodox faith within society. Your support of The Culture Watch and its sister organizations, MOVIEGUIDE® and the Christian Film & Television Commission® ministry (www.movieguide.org), is one way to do just that. Please call 1-888-248-6689 or visit www.movieguide.org to make a significant donation.